Detailed item info | Track listing | 1. I Can Only Give You Everything
2. Looking at You - (original "A-Square" single version)
3. I Just Don't Know
4. Ramblin' Rose
5. Kick Out the Jams - (uncensored version)
6. Come Together
7. Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)
8. Tonight
9. Teenage Lust
10. High School
11. Call Me Animal
12. American Ruse, The
13. Shakin' Street
14. Human Being Lawnmower, The
15. Back in the U.S.A.
16. Sister Ann
17. Baby Won't Ya
18. Miss X
19. Over and Over
20. Skunk (Sonically Speaking)
21. Thunder Express
| | Details | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording type: | Mixed | | Recording mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
| | Album notes | MC 5: Fred "Sonic" Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica, organ); Wayne Kramer (vocals, guitar, piano, bass); Rob Tyner (vocals, harmonica, congas, maracas); Michael Davis (vocals, bass); Dennis Thompson (vocals, drums, tambourine, percussion).
Additional personnel: Charles Moore (vocals, trumpet, flugelhorn); Merlene Driscoll, Joanne Hill, Brenda Knight (vocals); Leon Henderson (tenor saxophone); Rick Ferretti (trumpet); Larry Horton, Dan Bullock (trombone); David Overtsteak (tuba); Pete Kelly (piano); Skip "Van Winkle" Knapp (organ); Danny Jordan (keyboards); Steev Morrhouse (bass); Butch O'Brien (bass drum); Ellis Dee, Dave Heller, Dr. Dave Morgan, Scott Morgan, Bob Seger, Terry Trabandt (drums, percussion); Brother J.C. Crawford.
Producers include: MC5, John Sinclair, Jac Holzman, Bruce Botnick, Jon Landau.
Compilation producers: Wayne Kramer, Jimmy Guterman, Gary Stewart.
Engineers include: Danny Dallas, Bruce Botnick, Jim Bruzzese.
Includes liner notes by Wayne Kramer and Jimmy Guterman.
Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot (DigiPrep).
Alice Cooper may have plunged a knife into the heart of the Flower Power movement, but the Motor City Five sharpened the blade. Militant musical revolutionaries at a time when peace and love were counterculture buzz words, the MC5 drew from such disparate influences as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Archie Shepp, and Sun Ra to create a molten mix of screaming guitars, inflammatory lyrics, and thundering bass.
The five explosive years covered by THE BIG BANG contains material from the group's three albums KICK OUT THE JAMS, BACK IN THE USA, and HIGH TIME and early singles and rare material. The live songs on JAMS find the MC5 at its fire-breathing best as songs such as "Kick Out the Jams" and "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" show off the fiery interplay between guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith. USA finds the MC5 reigning in some of its high-flying musical excesses in attempting to write more radio-friendly fare. The results ("Tonight," "Shakin' Street") are shorter, garage-rock-fueled nuggets short on rhetoric but long on hooks and harmonies. The unjustly ignored HIGH TIME marks the end of the MC5, despite such lost classics as "Sister Anne" and "Miss X."
| | Editorial reviews | 4 stars out of 5 - ...A superb and fair collection of their best work...
Q (05/01/2000)
...[this album] rocks not only as an end in itself but also as the key to generational/perceptual/political change....THE BIG BANG works well as an introduction to a vital, thorny group...
Mojo (02/01/2000)
4 out of 5 - ...Stomps through early singles, the glorious cacophony of KICK OUT THE JAMS, the tighter, cleaner BACK IN THE USA, and the almost-mature HIGH TIME....[They] made the pop mainstream seem lightweight by comparison.
Alternative Press (04/01/2000)
9 out of 10 - ...some of the greatest rock'n'roll music ever committed to tape....one of the best rock'n'roll groups of all time.
NME (03/11/2000)
4 stars out of 5 - MC5's intense mixture of proto-punk and ragged, free-form jazz captures the very essence of rock'n'roll oblivion. Fans of Primal Scream and Asian Dub Foundation will almost certainly love this.
Melody Maker (04/25/2000)
...Represemts the best possible testimonial to the memory of these purveyors of a factiry forged, 'high energy' sound...
The Wire (03/01/2000)
Ranked #3 in NME's Top 5 Compilations Of The Year.
NME (12/30/2000)
5 stars out of 5 - Not only did their furious guitar sound - along with The Stooges - pave the way for punk and the recent Detroit garage-rock revival, but their flamboyant dress sense was a massive influence on glam.
Uncut
|
Portions of this page Copyright 1948 - 2009 Muze Inc.  All rights reserved. |
Back to homepage
) 
Print
Report item
